


one more bend before we break

by starssshine



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Chases, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Kissing, M/M, black and red are motorcycles, klance, leakira - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 03:28:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17317208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starssshine/pseuds/starssshine
Summary: “Why do we have to go through here,” Akira mutters, speaking more than asking. “This place could crumble any second.”“Yeah, but if we go straight to the communications office, we would be seen immediately. If we make it upstairs and jump from this building to that one, the cameras only have a second to aim at us, and they would never be able to tell who it is anyway. We’re invisible.” Leandro huffs a breath. “I wonder if Petra could make something that actually makes us invisible-”“Focus,” Akira hisses. “And I thought you said we didn’t have a plan, Lea.”Leandro shrugs. “Not really. I just have an amazing brain that comes up with plans on accident.”“Yeah, right.”Or, Leandro and Akira go on an adventure. Shenanigans ensue.





	one more bend before we break

**Author's Note:**

> i finally jumped on the leakira bandwagon. i am. so sorry  
> this probably sucks lmao, i wrote it in one day and only read over it like, once, so i'm sorry  
> also this is my first fic entirely in present tense so if i fucked up the tenses punch me in the face or smth
> 
> lance- leandro  
> keith- akira  
> shiro- hiroshi  
> adam- dante  
> pidge- petra  
> hunk- henare  
> allura- alzina  
> romelle- rowan
> 
> title is from nice2knou by all time low (actual bop go check it out)

Leandro runs his hand through his hair, the curls falling right back into his eyes. “Alright, let’s do this,” he says, spinning his blasters into their holsters and revving his bike, smirking. “Don’t fall behind,” he teases, and takes off driving, hearing Akira’s laughter ringing out behind him. He doesn’t look back, knowing he would be right behind him.

 

He wonders if he made a mistake, not telling the team about this mission, but he thinks it’ll be okay. He trusts Akira to get him out of danger more than anyone else, not that he would ever admit it. 

 

Leandro wonders what Akira thinks about being asked to join him. No plan, no help, just pure instinct, running off to another building to steal plans. Plans that could easily change the entire fight against the Garrison. Plans that would put them one step ahead of their rival, the Galra, too. 

 

Then again, Akira had never been one for plans. And he’s always ready to piss off important government figures. Leandro had doubted he would say no, and Akira didn’t. Almost without a word, he had gotten Red and hopped on to Leandro’s crazy idea.

 

Of course, there was  _ some  _ talking. You can’t expect Leandro and Akira to do anything without a little good-natured bickering. 

 

But now Leandro was driving through the night, the wind blowing through his hair. If not for the importance of stealth, he would have shouted in joy. He never felt more alive than he did on Black, in the middle of the night, his right-hand man, his best friend, his- whatever- at his side.

 

He hears Akira say his name and turns his head back to look at him. “What?” he calls, straining his ears to hear him over the wind  howling in his ears.

 

“Where exactly is this place?” Akira inquires. “You didn’t exactly tell me before we left, and I want to get in front of you. You’re slow.”

 

“Fuck you!” Leandro squawks, flipping him off with one hand. “But it’s almost in the middle of town, right by Sal’s and where The Feud is filmed. You know what I’m saying?” Leandro whips his head back to the front, making sure no one is in his path, and looks back immediately after. “If not, just let me lead, dumbass. I’m not that slow!”

 

“Sure,” Akira says, raising his eyebrows. “Definitely.”

 

“Shut up.”

 

Leandro lets Akira pass him, putting on his goggles (like he should have earlier) to let him see better in the dark. The world becomes an electronic green, illuminating everything even better than it is by the sun. Leandro can’t help but look at Akira, at his messy bun, his cropped jacket, the way his head tilts when he drives. He can imagine the smile on Akira’s face, the one he gets every time he’s on Red.

 

Leandro doesn’t want to say he’s ogling Akira’s muscles, but he definitely is.

 

He makes himself look down at his hands, focusing on Black and their presence in his mind. If someone had told him two years ago that he would be riding a semi-sentient motorbike, carrying two blasters made of bayard tech (that was invented by a fourteen-year-old), trying to act like he wasn’t in love with the boy riding the bike in front of him, he would have told the person to fuck off, he wasn’t an idiot. 

 

What had the world done to him?

 

Leandro hears Akira skid to a halt in front of him, coming to a stop next to an abandoned building. Leandro hits his breaks and parks next to him, giving a grim smile. “Ready?” he asked, and Akira nodded.

 

They creep through the building, watching their every step for fear of knocking the whole thing down. “Why do we have to go through  _ here _ ,” Akira mutters, speaking more than asking. “This place could crumble any second.”

 

“Yeah, but if we go straight to the communications office, we would be seen immediately. If we make it upstairs and jump from this building to that one, the cameras only have a second to aim at us, and they would never be able to tell who it is anyway. We’re invisible.” Leandro huffs a breath. “I wonder if Petra could make something that  _ actually  _ makes us invisible-”

 

“Focus,” Akira hisses. “And I thought you said we didn’t have a plan, Lea.”

 

Leandro shrugs. “Not really. I just have an amazing brain that comes up with plans on accident.”

 

“Yeah, right.”

 

They start climbing the stairs, having to jump over the crumbling ones. He trips on a hole in the rotting steps and almost falls, but he catches himself. Leandro is determined to not show his absolute terror that the staircase would collapse under them, so he looks over to Akira, who raises his eyebrows.

 

Leandro winks. “Don’t worry, babe. I got this.”

 

“Did you just call me  _ babe _ ?”

 

“You bet I did, sweetheart.”

 

Akira shakes his head, but he's unable to hide a smile. “Alright. Which window do we wanna jump from?”

 

Leandro surveys the room: only three windows, but they were all big enough to jump from without even ducking. This must have been a rich business place before the Garrison tore it down.

 

“That one,” he decides, gest uring to the window in the middle. “It’s closest to the office, and we’ll only have to jump maybe five feet, give or take a few inches, to get to the ledge. Though, that’s about your height so…” Leandro trails off, enjoying Akira’s glare. “Just kidding! Do you want to go first, or should I?”

 

Akira tilts his head, thinking. “Why don’t you lead the way, sharpshooter?” He gives Leandro a piercing gaze, one that makes Leandro want to fan his face. He hopes he isn’t blushing.

 

“Alright. See you on the other side, ‘Kira.”

 

Leandro checks his blasters were secure, adjusts his fingerless gloves, and eyes the open window. It isn’t too bad of a jump. He breathes in, out, and runs. 

 

When he lands on the ledge, he almost falls back off. He grips the brick wall the best he can, pulling up his bandana over his mouth. This close to the wall, the camera shouldn’t be able to see him, but he wants to protect his identity the best he can. No one really knows who the leader of Voltron is, and he wants to keep it that way.

 

He shimmies across the ledge, bending down to pick the lock on the window. The less evidence they broke into the building the better. He gets it just as Akira leaps over, landing right next to him. Leandro jumps inside the office, hearing Akira follow right behind him.

 

They land silently on the carpeted floor and immediately crawl behind a desk, taking precautions just in case someone happened to be around. At four in the morning, Leandro doubts it, but he’s alert all the same.

 

Akira pulls out his knife and extends it to a sword (something Leandro is still in awe of; Akira was given the knife from his mother and since he wouldn’t accept a new weapon from Petra, she upgraded it). Leandro pulls out his scanner and examines the room, seeing no biorhythms appear. He signals to Akira, and they make their way across the room to the computer Leandro knew had the information they needed.

 

“You get the stuff,” Leandro whispers, “And I’ll clear the cameras.”

 

Akira smirked. “Bet I’ll finish before you do.”

 

“You’re on.”

 

Leandro runs with light feet across the room, right to where he knew the camera room would be. Hopefully, whoever is on security that night will be asleep. Still, he might encounter someone, so he pulls out a gun, silently willing it to become a blade. The bayard tech complies, turning into something similar to a sword. With his other hand, he holds a blaster, flipping it to stun mode. He doesn’t want to have to harm whatever poor office worker had the luck to be on duty tonight.

 

He creeps into the security room, bandana pulled up and goggles darkened, and sees a woman with shoulder-length brown hair staring at her phone. She hasn’t looked up at the cameras in a while, clearly, and she’s wearing headphones, so Leandro looks over her shoulder to see her watching an animated show with a giant robot. Her name tag says “Montgomery”, and Leandro hates to ruin her show for her, but she can’t be allowed to see him. So he stuns her with his blaster, punches her in the jaw, and takes her headphones for good measure. At least now, it will look like she tried to fight, and she didn’t have her phone out. 

 

Also, they’re nice headphones. Leandro wants those.

 

He plugs a chip into the cameras, one Petra and Henare programmed specifically for this kind of thing. He turns the cameras back to an hour before he and Akira arrived, so they showed nothing but empty rooms. The chip did it’s work, making that image all anyone would see when they looked over the night camera’s footage. Nothing ever happened.

 

Leandro smiles. He isn’t much of a hacker, so being able to completely wipe any trace of his and Akira’s existence is a good feeling.

 

He leaves the room, stunning the woman one last time before he leaves. She’ll wake up with one hell of a headache.

 

He goes to meet Akira back in the main room. It looks like both of them finished their work at the same time, because he turns off the computer just as Leandro enters, waving a chip that must contain the info with a smile. “We got it,” he says quietly, and Leandro grins. 

“Hell yes,” he replies, and they both go back to the window.  Leandro can see the hint of sunrise on the horizon.

 

“You think we can jump?” Akira asks, and Leandro shakes his head. “Damn. I’ll call Red.”

 

Akira closes his eyes and Leandro looks over to him, taking in his messy hair pushed back by the goggles on his forehead, his furrowed eyebrows, his long eyelashes. He makes himself look away before Akira opens his eyes.

 

“Here they come,” Akira says, and right on cue, a hovercar sits next to the window. The two boys climb in and Red takes them to the ground. 

“I love bayard tech,” Leandro comments as Red turns back into a bike. “I really do.”

 

“You should tell Petra that more often,” Akira says, and smiles at Leandro. “Tonight was nice, Lea. I thought it would be a nightmare, but it was pretty cool.”

 

Leandro pulls his bandana down finally, breathing in clear air. “Thanks, dude. You know I’m still working on leading after Hiroshi left, so I’ll take all the compliments I can get.”

 

“Hey, just between you and me,” Akira begins,  “I like being your right hand than being Hiroshi’s.”

 

“Really?” Leandro’s eyes widen. He always thought Akira and Hiroshi were the perfect pair, the dynamic duo. Hiroshi was basically Akira’s older brother, and the whole team missed their original leader and Black Rider. But that meant Alzina could become their Blue Rider, and Leandro could discover his “secret potential” as leader. Not that Leandro was at all good at leading.

 

Akira tilts his head like he does when he drives. “Yeah. Hiroshi was all ‘leadership this’ and ‘stop doing stuff on the fly’ and ‘plans are important, Akira’. Being your Red Rider isn’t like that. I think I’m better at doing stuff with you, because I’m actually doing stuff to help the team and you, whereas with Hiroshi, I felt like I was just an extra piece of a puzzle.”

 

“I- I didn’t know that at all.”

 

“Yeah.” Akira thrusts his hands into his  pockets awkwardly. “This got weird. I just wanted to tell you, like, I think you’re a good leader.”

 

Leandro smiles. “Thanks, ‘Kira. That- that means a lot, coming from you.”

 

“You ready to head back?”

 

“Alzina and Rowan are gonna have our heads for leaving.”

 

“Mainly Alzina. Rowan will just be jealous that she didn’t get to come.”

 

Leandro laughs harder than he should. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

 

And the second they climb onto Red and Black, alarms start ringing.

 

“Fuck,” Leandro yells. “Is it because of us?”

 

“Probably,” Akira calls back, struggling to be heard over the incessant ringing. “Garrison will be here any minute. Get on Red.”

 

“What?!”

 

“Get on! Tell Black to go back to base. It’s be easier to hit two targets than one.” Akira scoots back on Red, gesturing for Leandro to climb on in front of him so they faced each other. Leandro didn’t argue, not when he could almost hear the Garrison men coming for them. He whispers the plan as fast as he can to Black and runs for Akira.

 

Red takes off the second Leandro sits down, giving him no time to adjust to the fact that his face was inches from Akira’s. He pulled out his guns, turning them off stun, and he moves so Akira can see in front of them and Leandro can aim. The hovercars are still a few blocks away, but Leandro can see them getting closer.

 

“We can’t go back to base,” Leandro yells back at Akira. “They’ll follow us and we’ll have to relocate.”

 

“I’ll head towards Atlas, they have better firepower and it’ll give us more time to shake ‘em,” Akira shouts back. 

 

Leandro nods his head and lets himself forget that he’s almost sitting on top of his crush. He needs to put that out of his mind if he’s going to be able to do anything. 

 

He clears his mind and he starts to aim his blasters. And he shoots one. Two. Three. Cars fall back into others and explode. Leandro could have sworn he saw something like that in a movie before. He keeps shooting. Akira keeps driving, swearing every time they hit a bump. Leandro barely notices.

 

He gets in a zone when he’s in combat, like nothing exists but himself and the opponents. He doesn’t feel anything, hear anything, see anything outside his tunnel vision. 

 

It feels better than anything he’s ever felt.

 

Before Leandro knows it, the hovercars are gone. He and Akira are alone on the bike, only a few minutes from Atlas base. His brain clears and he moves his chin from Akira’s shoulder, facing him.

 

“Hey,” he whispers, his voice low, and Akira cracks a smile.

 

“Nice shooting, Lea,” Akira says.

 

Leandro runs a hand through his hair. “Not so bad yourself, ‘Kira. Why did we come here? We lost the Garrison.”

 

“Dunno. Instinct, I guess. You think Hiroshi will kill us?”

 

“Probably.” 

 

“Well,” Akira says, slowing Red to a stop, “I hope he doesn’t. I don’t want to die before his and Dante’s wedding.”

 

Leandro snickers. “I bet he won’t kill you. I bet he’ll just disown you and make James Griffin his best man.”

 

“Oh, god.” Akira rolls his eyes. “He would, too.”

 

“I, for one, wouldn’t be surprised.”

 

Akira huffs a breath of laughter. He and Leandro sit in the silence for a minute, taking the other in. Leandro still feels like he’s catching his breath from the chase. He has to consciously stop himself from looking at Akira’s lips.

 

Then, Akira’s eyes flit to  _ his  _ lips and he thinks he stops breathing all together. Leandro smiles a small smile, one he rarely shows, and they almost lean in before Dante walks outside.

 

“Akira? Leandro? What the fuck are you two doing here?” 

 

Both of their heads immediately whip away from each other, and Akira starts climbing off of Red. Leandro follows his lead, pulling his goggles off all together and leaving them on the bike before getting up.

 

“Hey, Dante!” Leandro says, waving at him with a smile. “We were being chased, and since you guys have better firepower than Voltron base, we figured we would head here instead of our base. We fought them off before we got here, but we figured we would still stop and say hello.”

 

“Well then,” Dante smiles sarcastically. “I guess all Atlas is worth to you guys is as an escape plan. Thanks  _ so  _ much.”

 

“Oh, come off it,” Akira replies. “You know that’s not what we meant. Where’s Hiroshi?”

 

“He’s inside. You guys coming in, or…”

 

Akira turns to Leandro and shrugs. “Are we?”

 

Leandro thinks about it for a second. “We do need to get going, and we’d probably piss off half of Atlas. Maybe we should go, and we can come see Hiroshi later.”

 

Dante looks behind him, and then says, “Speak of the devil,” just as Hiroshi walks out of the building.

 

“Akira, Leandro, what are you guys doing here?” Hiroshi asks. “Why is only Red here? And where’s the rest of Voltron?”

 

“Well,” Leandro begins, “We were being chase and we knew Voltron base doesn’t have enough firepower to keep the Garrison away. So, we came here, but we ended up getting rid of the Garrison before we got here. We decided to stop and say hi anyway, I guess. Akira was the one driving.”

 

Hiroshi still looks concerned. “Why only you two, though? And why were you both on Red?”

 

“Getting there. Akira said that it’s better to only have one target for them to shoot at, because odds are, with more targets, we’ll be hit, so i sent Black back to base and rode on Red. Also, we kinda… went on a solo mission to get some info from a communications office. Information that might help us greatly against the Garrison.” Leandro smirks. “A little birdy told me that Iverson has someone who might be a weakness against him, and we know exactly who she is and where she lives.”

 

Dante looks at Hiroshi, his face slightly impressed. “Not bad for two kids,” he remarks. Hiroshi sighs, but nods in agreement.

 

“Does Voltron know you’re gone?” Hiroshi asks, and Leandro and Akira looked at each other awkwardly. 

 

“No,” Akira replies, and Hiroshi rolls his eyes.

 

“Akira, you know what I’m about to say-”

 

“It was my idea,” Leandro cuts in. “I had to convince  _ him _ . I mean, it wasn’t hard, but, yeah.”

 

Hiroshi shakes his head, but he smiles. “Alright. Well, do you two need anything while you’re here? Or were you just stopping by?”

 

“It’s probably best that we go now,” Leandro confirms. “Thanks for, well, not killing us for using your base as backup without telling you.”

 

Hiroshi chuckles. “Alright. I hope your team has mercy on you.”

 

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Akira huffs a breath and walks back to Red, climbing on. “Coming, Lea?”

 

“Yeah.” Leandro smiles one last time at the two men, and jogs over, climbing on behind Akira this time.

 

They drive for a few minutes before Leandro can’t stand the silence. “Was it just me, or was that conversation supremely awkward?”

 

“Nope. I thought it was too.” Akira’s reply is short, and makes Leandro wonder if something’s wrong. He asks him.

 

“I’m just tired, I guess,” Akira says, and he leans back into Leandro. “I kinda want to hide for the rest of the day to avoid human interaction. It’s exhausting.”

 

Oh. “Sorry I dragged you out here, then.” 

 

“No, no,” Akira says almost urgently, and it makes Leandro a little confused. “I like human interaction with you. God- that sound super weird. You know what I mean?”

 

 

“Why, thank you,” Leandro laughs, and leans his forehead on Akira’s back. “I like human interaction with you too, ‘Kira.”

 

They stay quiet the rest of the drive back. When they arrive at the house Voltron’s taken sanctuary in the past few months, they don’t move from where they’re sitting. After a minute or two, Leandro lightly punches Akira. “C’mon, man. Let’s go.”

 

“Wait,” Akira says, grabbing Leandro’s hand before he can move.

 

Leandro opens his mouth to ask what was wrong and Akira kisses him.

 

Akira’s mouth is so soft and he kisses better than Leandro expects him to. It’s nothing more than a kiss, but when Akira pulls away, Leandro chases his lips, winning another. He tastes like strawberries and Leandro doesn’t know why, but he isn’t going to stop and ask.

 

They pull away to catch their breath and Leandro looks into Akira’s eyes, studying the gray that looks purple in the neon lights. 

 

“I think I’m in love with you,” Leandro whispers, and Akira smiles that soft smile he’s only seen once before, when they held hands after their first battle. Leandro always said he forgot the moment, but he clung to it.

 

Akira kisses him again and Leandro thinks that this has to be the best moment in h is l ife.

 

“We should probably go inside,” Akira says after a few minutes. “The others still don’t know we left.”

 

“Alright,” Leandro agrees, and they climb off of Red. Their fingers are still intertwined, and they both seem to notice at the same time.

 

Neither one does a thing about it.

 

“Ready?” Leandro asks, preparing himself for the amount of questions he was about to face from Petra, Henare, Alzina, and Rowan.

 

“You bet,” Akira replies, and Leandro smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> leandro calling akira 'kira and akira calling leandro lea is like,,, my favorite thing
> 
>  
> 
> also comments and kudos are appreciated thank u fam love u


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